I love St Patrick - 2
by crowskisses
Summary: The gang's St. Patrick's days at college. Part One: Damon's in a mood with a mysterious visitor, Matt tries to kiss somebody unexpected, Stefan gets rowdy and Bonnie finds herself caught between a werewolf, Damon and shots (written pre-moonsong). NEW PART 2: There's magic in the air, visitors and a karaoke duel. Bonnie centric.
1. Chapter 1

Title: St. Patrick's Day

Rating: T, for language

Summary: The gang's first 's day at college. Damon's in a mood with a mysterious visitor, Matt tries to kiss somebody unexpected, Stefan gets rowdy and Bonnie finds herself caught between a werewolf, Damon and shots. Bonnie centric.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even the holiday :)

AN: Crow's has had some fabulous St. Patty's days, she thinks, if only she could remember all of them ;) She's irish-american and in short, this story had to happen. Related to "I love College" series, worked in Zander to fit with the _Moonsong _previews. Grammar is by no means perfect.

4:00 pm, March 17th:

"So," Elena asked bursting into the living room upon returning from her afternoon class, "What are we going to do for St. Patrick's Day?"

"When is it?" Bonnie asked, looking around the room slowly, as if waking up from a fugue.

"Today." Elena said, not impatiently, though her eyes were tight with worry as Bonnie turned her attention back to her lap, her own eyes tightening with wetness. Had it only been two weeks since Zander died then? It seemed like it had been forever, or maybe she had just forgotten how terrible the yawning hole of grief felt in her soul. Elena had come back when she'd gone, as had Damon, but Zander wasn't going to suddenly fall from the sky. Zander was dead, in the complete sense.

Words moved around her as they cheerily forced the conversation on, debating the merits of different frats. Bonnie blinked back her tears, clutching her hands tightly for a moment before speaking, "I don't want to go to a frat party."

She looked up then and eyes slid away from her quickly, color rising into Matt's cheeks as he looked away, Stefan resolutely looking like he was interested in the unlit fireplace. They had all been staring at her then, she could feel Elena and Meredith exchanging glances over her head, but one person in the room hadn't looked away. His gaze had remained steady on her face, unashamed and unabashed though his lips were puckered into a slight frown. Her heart thumped unevenly in her chest under the black gaze and her eyes filled with tears again, her heart's response felt like a betrayal to Zander.

She fled into the sanctuary of the kitchen, splashing cool sink water on her face to drown out Matt's soft complaint of wanting to go Chi Psi's party. It shocked her back to herself, back to the fact these feelings were temporary, they were just part of the grieving process. She straightened up and wiped her face with the dish towel and tensed. He had followed her, not Meredith's cool, reassuring presence this time. She turned around, finding Damon's black eyes still studying her intently. His voice was almost an accusation, a reminder that she hadn't grieved over him for two weeks. "It's been two weeks, redbird."

Bonnie's stomach clenched again and she made to move past him, "Alaric says grief takes time, Damon."

He didn't let her past, his hands catching her waist and sitting her on the counter in one fluid motion, trapping her. His eyes were piercing and his voice thoughtful, "Grief or guilt, little bird? They think you're sad...I know you feel guilty."

She bit the inside of her cheek and looked to the side, why could he read her so well? If she hadn't needed saving, Zander would still be here today. Damon gave a velvet chuckle then slowly tipped her chin up with one hand. "I won't have you blaming yourself for his stupidity. He rushed in, as he would have if it was Elena or Meredith in danger, and he died for it."

"But-" She tried to protest, angry at Damon calling him stupid, angry at the tears swimming in her eyes again. She hated feeling like this.

"No buts. Bonnie, he was a werewolf. They all have gruesome deaths, his just happened to come for the side of good not evil. Its St. Patrick's Day and this _folle_guilt trip ends tonight." He took her off the counter and she felt oddly comforted by the talk.

"I don't want to go to a frat." She repeated resolutely, she didn't want to deal with awkwardness that came with people not knowing how to handle your boyfriend being dead. She didn't want to be judged for being out at all.

"We're going to the bars." He said just as resolutely as they joined the others.

Stefan opened his mouth to protest, but Matt beat him to it. "We can't get in."

Damon merely rolled his eyes.

...

8:00 pm, March 17th

In the end it was decided they were heading to bars two towns over, to hopefully ensure they wouldn't run into anyone they knew. Which is how Bonnie found herself in a green dress of Elena's, fake eyelashes and shuffling nervously into her very first bar. Logically, she knew Damon and Stefan's compulsion would get them in and Damon's wild spending would keep them there, but she still felt as if anyone who looked closely at her would realize she didn't belong. She was too young to understand that on St. Patrick's day nobody looks that closely, they are determined to have a good time and be your friend. They made it four steps into the bar before a look of horror crossed Stefan's face and he reached out and grabbed his brother's leather clad arm, "Damon...This better not be a repeat of last year..."

Damon's smirk promised his brother's half worried and half horrified tones it would be. "But little brother, its tradition!"

"What's tradition?" Bonnie asked looking between them and realizing with her pre bar alcohol buzz how similar they really looked. Last year Stefan and Damon had still been in Italy, grieving Elena and Bonnie had been failing trigonometry.

Damon flashed her a 500 kilowatt smile and Stefan gave a small groan, tossing his head to the heavens in a familiar expression of suffering. Bonnie prompted again, while letting Elena drag her towards the bar. "Stefan?"

Stefan opened his mouth, but Damon was quicker. "She'll see soon enough." He leaned over the bar, catching the bartender's glance and with a wink at Bonnie ordered. "6 redheaded sluts,_ por favore_."

"Damon!" Bonnie squeaked with a red face and her first genuine giggle since they'd buried Zander. It felt so natural, yet so unnaturally different she paused after, taking the moment before her shot to let lightness begin to settle back into her heart for at least tonight. Elena and Meredith exchanged excited shots were passed and Elena gave a toast, "To St. Patrick!"

The glasses went down on the bar and up to their lips, sliding down in sugary sweet burning. Then Meredith was leaning over the bar with her own wink at Bonnie and Elena, "6 blue eyed floozies,_ por favor_."

Bonnie laughed in delight again and Elena gave Meredith a teasing pinch, "I'll get you!"

Meredith quirked an eyebrow, her eyes sliding from Elena to Matt, her next words a murmur. "Who said I was talking about you?"

Bonnie laughed again, delighted at the rush of red into Matt's cheeks. His protests over scored by Damon and Stefan's laughter; Damon's a dark murmur and Stefan's a muffled chuckle.

Bonnie's laughter stopped abruptly, ice running down her spine as her psychic senses tingled madly. There was age here. A vampire. She turned a half second before he reached their group, his carrot hair glaring madly in the light. His voice was a laughing lilt. "You should be careful, hunter. I doubt you need any more enemies."

Meredith spun into a crouch, back tense. This caused the stranger to laugh even louder, Damon to join in and Stefan to groan. Meredith's voice was tight. "Who are you?"

"Michael Sullivan, at your service. Sully, if you may." He accompanied his words with a bow to the girls before turning to Damon and grabbing him into a rough hug. "You're getting harder to find each year, Salvatore."

"Maybe you're getting weaker in your old age." Damon shot back, almost friendly competition running under the comment.

Sully waved his hand at the bartender and a table was cleared, Stefan let out another almost inaudible groan catching the redheaded vampire's eye. He gave a bark of a laugh, then turned back to Damon. "Still got your shadow_?"_

Damon shrugged, stealing a seat at the freshly cleaned table as Sully sat opposite. "Shall we?"

"Let it begin." Sully responded, waving over the bartender again.

…...

9:00 pm, March 17th

"So, they just take shots until someone passes out?" Matt asked, glancing back in boredom and wonder at the two vampires drinking pace for pace at their own table.

Stefan gave an indifferent shrug, he'd had a fair amount of shots himself tonight. "Pretty much. Last year I woke up in the Louvre and I wasn't even playing. I have no idea where Sully ended up."

"The Louvre is in Paris." Elena corrected, giving a small frown as she climbed off her bar stool.

Stefan shrugged, silencing her effectively. Indeed it was in Paris, yet he woke up there rather than gentle Florence. Elena shrugged and headed off for the bathroom. Bonnie glanced back much the same way Matt had, "So who is Sully? He feels..." She shut her eyes for a moment and trained her senses on him, "old?"

Stefan nodded and took a sip of his whiskey almost as an afterthought, "Good, you're getting stronger. Sully's older than us, but younger than Klaus we think. I don't know him."

"Can we trust him?" Meredith asked for the fifth time that night, looking up from the edge of their group and her frantic texting.

Stefan shrugged again. Yet it was the redhead himself that answered, "I didn't kill Damon when he was trying to eat me wife, now did I?" He leaned over the bar, "Another bottle?"

Then he was gone and Bonnie shuddered in her seat, catching a glimpse of dark hair and bright eyes. "She was human?"

Stefan began to shrug with eyes down and his shoulders tense, his thoughts on his own predicament, but Damon was there leaning over Bonnie to get to the bar. "She was and he didn't have her marked. Another bottle?"

Bonnie frowned again in confusion, but as the bottle was passed a dark voice whispered in her ear as Damon's leather jacket withdrew from her back, "You don't have to worry about that, redbird."

Now what did that mean?

10 pm, March 17th

Bonnie trailed behind their group as they walked towards the next bar, her eyes going between Matt and Meredith's energetic conversation and the two vampires singing drinking songs at the top of their lungs. She was resolutely not looking at Stefan and Elena's clasped hands, instead focusing on how Matt _kept _touching Meredith's shoulder, kept brushing the same lock of hair off of it and how Meredith _kept _letting him. They'd all had more than enough for the night, yet were going to have much more to drink by the end.

She was watching Matt and Meredith so intently she didn't even notice the redheaded vampire appear next to her at first, his deep lilt shocking her. "So sister celt, what have you done to Salvatore? He's the last one I'd figure would be tamed into playing with a little group of humans."

"Oh, it was Elena." Bonnie answered absently, watching as Matt's hand was twitching closer to trying to hold Meredith's. "She looks like Katherine."

"She would have made a great vampire." Damon muttered appearing at her other side, a single ruby spot on the corner of the outside of his mouth.

Sully laughed again, his voice warm but inhuman. "Unlike you, pet. Are there more of you? It's been a long time since I had a companion..."

Another shrug, "I have three sisters."

A sharp pinch had her looking quickly at Damon, understanding the sharp warning in the blackness of his eyes. Bonnie floundered. "They're all ugly."

Damon added his agreement, "Hideous cows."

Stefan saved her, throwing out his voice from the front of their group. He was standing in front of a bar with a big shamrock sign, "How about here?"

Matt cheered and Stefan started talking to the doorman, Sully sauntering over to speed the process along. Bonnie looked up at Damon, finding those black eyes brooding again. His voice was low, "Be careful with Sully, redbird."

There were so many proper responses she could have made, but none came out. What came out of her mouth was an excited, "There's dancing! Dance with me? You have to dance with me!"

"Shots first." Sully said, ushering them into the bar. "Then perhaps you'll show me how Americans 'get down'?"

"Maybe after I'm done showing her -" Damon replied, cut off by Matt's yell.

"SHOTS! Round up!" Bonnie took the innocuous looking glass filled with green and crinkled her nose. Matt was already 7 sheets to the wind, his blue eyes almost neon with excitement.

Matt lifted his glass once everyone had theirs, his eyes going straight to Bonnie with a smile. "To the druids."

She felt the party energy roar back up in her, coming alive like an old friend. She let out her own cheer, her own celebration of her heritage. "_Drooo-ids!"_

The glasses went down, then up, then burning went down her throat and she sputtered. Someone grabbed her glass and she found herself on the dance floor, arms around Damon's leather clad neck before she could breathe normally again. His everyday grace was sensual on the dance floor, somehow scandalous even though his moves were limited. Bonnie felt the touch of his mind, the sharp spinning of the room for him, then his thought. _Having fun, little bird?_

_Of course. _She replied, managing to press herself closer to the scent of the woods on him.

He smiled at her, bright and genuine, then his eyebrow shot into his hair and he pulled her around. Now her back was against his chest, facing Matt and Meredith along the side of the dance floor. Matt seemed to be saying something very passionately, his hands flying around, and Meredith seemed to be listening intently. Only someone who had known her as long as Bonnie had could see the growing unease on her cool countenance, an unease that skyrocketed into shock at the blond head bent down to her level.

Bonnie was out of Damon's arms and pushing through the dancers towards Meredith before the brief kiss was over, Matt's smile abruptly leaving as Meredith's hand came up and around in a sharp slap. "How dare you?"

Bonnie grabbed Meredith's hand as she pushed past Matt, dragging her towards the bathroom. Meredith was in a rage, "How dare he? He knows about Alaric!"

"He's hammered." Bonnie tried her best to soothe, "He'll apologize twenty times tomorrow."

"Meredith, I'm so sorry!" A muffled voice came through the door, "I- I don't know what came over me! There had been a moment once...oh shit, Alaric."

Meredith and Bonnie exchanged glances, but the brunette looked slightly mollified. Still they didn't answer, opting instead to make use of their time in a clean bar bathroom, and after one more apology Matt seemed to go away. Bonnie came out and washed her hands, meeting Meredith's eyes in the mirror with a familiar giggle. "I can't believe he kissed you!"

Meredith turned with soapy hands and high school excitement, "_I know_! I always thought..."

Bonnie was still fixated on the kiss for some reason, on Matt's strong shoulders and the line his mouth made when he was determined to do something. "How was it?"

"What?" Meredith asked drying her hands.

"The kiss!" Bonnie was practically bouncing on her toes now, anxious for the gossip. "How was it?"

Meredith's eyes lit up and the corner of her mouth turned up, her voice conspiratorial. "Wet."

They burst into giggles that only continued when Elena burst into the bathroom. "Matt tried to kiss you? His cheek has your handprint on it!"

The giggles began all over again.

…...

11 pm, March 17th

"If they were human, they'd be dead from alcohol poisoning, right?" Matt asked, looking at Damon and Sully slamming shots.

"They almost died last year from being _idiotos_." Stefan replied, glancing back at them himself.

Elena looked up, "So they do this every year?"

Bonnie beat Stefan to answering, a glimpse of Damon and Sully in clothes long out of style staggering out of a wooden tavern. "Since before the holiday was even widely celebrated. Stefan?"

A moment of worry darkened his forest green eyes, before he hid it and nodded. "Since Damon was a new vampire I think."

"I want to play pool." Matt slurred, standing up with his water. Elena gave a nod of agreement and went with him.

"Bonnie," Stefan said seriously, while waving the bartender over. "Be careful-" He paused turning his attention to the barkeep, "An irish hot chocolate for the lady and a car bomb for me."

She shot him a questioning glance and Stefan shrugged, "Your hands are so cold, they're almost blue. Seriously Bonnie, be careful."

"Of who?" She asked interestedly, protectiveness for her was Damon's schtick not Stefan's. Stefan barely noticed anyone but Elena sometimes. Still, after all this time she admired Stefan's considerate manners, ordering her a warm drink when her hands were cold.

Stefan shrugged a shoulder, glancing at the room. "Both." Another hesitant pause, his voice pained. "Matt too, he likes you and he's already going to feel like an ass over Meredith tomorrow."

Bonnie laughed, taking her hot chocolate from the bartender, Matt liked her the same way he liked his old beat up ford. She laughed again realizing something and she reached over and pinched Stefan. "You're not wearing green!"

"I'm not Irish." Stefan protested, rubbing his arm.

"Everyone's Irish on St. Patty's!" She responded primly.

"Even me?" Matt asked appearing at her side, holding out a dollar for quarters to operate the pool table.

"You really are Irish, silly." Bonnie responded, "On your dad's side."

A shadow passed through his blue eyes. "Really? I never knew..."

Bonnie's heart clenched for him, Matt's dad had been gone so long they had forgotten he'd lost a parent just as surely as Elena had. "Yeah... You can talk to him, you know. Mrs. Flowers can do it, or I can practice the spell..."

The shadow on him darkened before lighting into a tentative joy that burst into the blue of his eyes. He grabbed his change, giving Bonnie an all american smile. "I...I think I would like that."

He moved away, pausing to turn back with another bright smile, "Thanks, Bonnie."

She smiled back and took a sip of hot chocolate, this was the life. Stefan was looking at her intently, "How far back does the talking go?"

She puckered her eyebrows before understanding, "I don't know..." Another type of understanding hit, "Your mother?"

Stefan glanced back at where Damon was climbing unsteadily off his chair and weaving through the crowd. "Si, for my brother."

Damon reached them, throwing his arms around them, "_Amici, voi due sono come bastoni nel fango. Vieni a bere con noi."_

"Repeat that?" Bonnie asked, trying to concentrate on her Italian.

He obliged and she shook her head in resistance to his offer of drinking with Sully, "I'm good. I don't want to get smashed."

Damon took her hand, kissing it. "Isn't that what happens on 's day? Don't deny me this pleasure, little bird."

How could she deny such a beautiful creature any pleasure? She shot Stefan a look and they both got up, though Stefan's mutter was for her ears only. "This is a bad idea."

…...

11 pm, March 17th

Bonnie was on the patio of a new bar, a fancy rooftop lounge that she felt out of place in. The rest of her party was inside; Elena and Meredith caught in giggles, Matt and Stefan in football discussion and the other two still drinking heavily. She let the breeze run across her warm cheeks, letting the familiar drinking songs from her childhood wash over her, songs the McCulloughs' had sung on road trips. March was unseasonably warm for Virginia and Bonnie felt even warmer due to the whiskey running in her veins.

She felt him leave the main bar, a breath of black fire against her back, a whisper of uncertainty brushing against her skin. She turned to meet him, leaning back on the edge of the balcony, too drunk to be afraid of the powers she usually tried to block. The breeze ran across her again and she shivered in the warm night, it was a breeze of warning, a breeze of change. Black eyes were boring into hers, Damon not saying anything, not even smiling as they looked back and forth for a long time. Eventually he finished his drink and tossed it off the balcony, the crash coming two seconds later. She jumped at the crash, but his frown didn't change. He spoke a second later, the usually velvet black a slurred growl. "Did you love him?"

"Yes." Bonnie answered automatically, against the small tremor of fear running in her soul. She had loved Zander, had loved him so much. Her lips were still moving, still trying to drunkenly explain the feeling of first love. "I loved him and the crazy thing was...he actually loved me back. It was...it was..."

She trailed off at the rumble of thunder across the clear sky, looking intently at Damon's face and the unintentional wound she had opened up. The brooding cut of his lips had only increased, "So now what will you do?"

The question startled her, hurt in a way. What else could she do but go on loving Zander? For her, you never fell out of love with somebody, you just buried it. She didn't know how to explain this to Damon, couldn't face a conversation where she had to inspect her feelings for the dark vampire before her. So she did the only thing she could, the only honest answer she had left. "I'm going...to get another drink."

She never got her next drink, never made it off the balcony, never even made it past Damon. Instead, she took a step forward involuntarily and met the vampire's lips crashing towards hers. The kiss was a shock to her system, an electric current waking up feelings she had long tried to deny. His lips moving against hers caused an irrevocable change in her makeup. His soft nip was the final straw, causing the axises of her world to shift against her will. Where she had once orbited the sun, now she orbited Damon in it's place, everything inside her wildly tilting to make up for it. With one kiss, their first real kiss without boredom, curiosity or longing on his part, he had caused mayhem in her heart, caused himself to be the center of her universe. He had erased the gentle werewolf.

He pulled away and all she could see were open black eyes. No walls, no sentries posted on his soul, just Damon. Part of her soared in adulation at a dream long desired being realized, but the bigger part panicked. She looked down at her feet eyes burning with tears; this was too much, too soon. She still loved Damon, though she was only now realizing that she'd buried it so far down that when Zander came along and she'd loved him she couldn't cope. Her grief stricken heart was only just beginning to find it's pieces, only now realizing she could put herself back together again. Her heart was soaring at Damon's acceptance, still wheeling at Zander's death, and all too much in pieces to be anywhere near whole.

He sighed, a soft exhale of breath, an exhale of understanding. He had put it on the line too soon and she was so close to complete panic that there was no chance this was the right time for love. His word was bitter, "_Scopa."_

Damon staggered sideways into the balcony before trying to fix the damage he'd done. "Look at me, redbird."

She couldn't, she kept her eyes trained on her feet as tears started to spill over. Her insides were shaking with pure panic and her mind buzzing with a coming faint, one she would willingly go into. He sighed again before tipping her trembling chin up, forcing her tear stained eyes to meet his hardening ones. He held them and her insides trembled harder as she tried to look away: he didn't need to see her broken heart. All Bonnie could see were dark eyes rapidly icing over, pupils dilating unnaturally large. "You will not remember this."

She nodded woodenly, caught in the compulsion. "I never kissed you and you never realized," he had to pause here, "that you still loved me."

She repeated the words and his fingers on her chin clenched before loosening, his words a painful afterthought. "You will stop feeling guilty for the werewolf's death."

There was a very long hesitation where his lips moved soundlessly more than once, but in the end he released her without any other commands. There were so many temptations in his head, so many words that he thought might help her. Instead he leaned back, looking away and breaking the compulsion. He'd never done that to her before for his own gain. Bonnie shook her head as if to clear it, glancing at him in confusion before looking over the balcony. She opened her mouth to ask something, but was cut off by an absolutely furious Matt. He shoved a beer at her, eyes like blue fire glancing from her to Damon, his words a command. "Go inside, Bonnie."

Her mouth opened to protest and hung there for a moment until Matt glanced her way again. The pure rage on his face had her shutting her mouth and moving towards the door, glancing back several times in confusion. Maybe Meredith would know what happened.

Matt managed to wait until Bonnie was inside before exploding. "How dare you? How fucking dare you?"

Damon lounged back against the balcony, forcibly lounging. He took the other drink out of Matt's hand, taking a casual sip from the blond's beverage before answering. "How dare I what?"

Matt was actually vibrating in his fury, his hands clenched into fists. "How dare you kiss her like _that_, then compel it away? She's not your goddamn toy. How long have you been doing that? God, were you doing that while Zander was -"

"Shut up." Damon hissed silencing the blond, straightening up in his own indignation. However little he had liked Bonnie's little boyfriend, he would never have interfered. He'd been monitoring Matt's thoughts throughout the night and now it was ammunition time. "Are you upset because I kissed her, or because you didn't?"

Matt's mouth flew open in a rage, but Damon went on, his voice a purr. "Oh yes, I know why you were bringing her a drink, certainly not to comfort her. After all, you've already lost out with Meredith tonight..."

Matt gaped like a fish, outraged and furious beyond belief. He had a brief thought of throwing Damon over the balcony, instead opting for a better revenge. He half turned, "I'm going to tell her what you did."

Damon grabbed him, holding his shoulder and turning him back around, eyes dilating uselessly. Matt dug into his pocket, holding up the single sprig of vervain in triumph. "You're out of luck this time."

Damon half rolled his eyes and before Matt knew it, Damon had snatched his vervain and tossed it over the balcony. "_Sciosco."_

"Shit." Matt was all Matt managed as he tried to turn from the vampire, getting caught in the compulsion before the word was over.

Damon quirked his head to the side, debating. "You will forget what happened tonight." He glanced over the balcony, "And you'll forget about vervain."

He quirked his head again, a slow catlike smile spreading across his face. "You'll sleep outside like the dog you are and in honor of St. Patrick put on an Irish accent."

A laugh came from next to him, Sully grabbing Matt's face and turning it. "You're from Dublin and hate Americans who think they're really Irish."

He released him with another deep laugh, giving the blond a shove. "Go on inside and fetch me a drink."

"You want a harpic?" Matt asked cheerfully enough in his new shiny, thick irish accent.

Sully nodded and waved him off, turning back to Damon. "You're brother will be pissed."

Damon merely frowned, his fleeting amusement gone. Sully sighed, "Don't fret over the lass, Salvatore. Give her time, she's not but half grown now."

"She's just short." Damon responded, not quite getting the point through his alcohol.

Sully laughed, "As are you, my friend. But right now, let's just get you drunk."

Matt reappeared, holding out the pint and glancing at them with slurred very accented excitement. "We getting him locked up?"

"It doesn't get old!" Sully roared with a laugh.

12 am, March 18th

"Bonnie, get down." Stefan said with no real conviction and no real hope of getting the redhead off of the pool table.

She didn't even spare him a glance from her role conducting the crowd in singing "Finnegan's Wake", her own voice loud and off key.

"Matt, get down. You'll hurt yourself." Meredith tried just as weakly as Stefan, giving him a smile as she sipped on her beer and kept an eye on Matt who was on his own pool table across from Bonnie trying to encourage the bar. He was hammered and overly dramatic, but seemed to be having a grand time.

Elena shot Stefan an impish smile before kissing him quickly on his cheek and pulling him up, "We can't stop them, might as well join them."

He tried his best to stay on the ground, but even when he was sober he couldn't resist Elena. So he found himself on a pool table standing awkwardly between Elena and Bonnie. Bonnie belting out the song, while reaching around him to hold Elena's hand. To his surprise Elena knew the words equally as well, joining in with a high sweet soprano. His eyebrows shot into his hair and she gave him a grin, pausing long enough to explain, "Riding with Bonnie's dad as kids."

Then Elena kicked into the next song "Drunken Sailor" with a passion, waving in vain at Meredith, who merely shook her head and shot raised eyebrows at Matt who had convinced several girls onto his pool table. Meredith's eyebrows stayed up as Damon came around, holding out a shot her way. She waved him off and he came to the pool table, successfully getting Bonnie's attention long enough to hand her one of the shots. She held it high and with a shout of, "To the luck of the Irish!"

The bar roared in response.

1 am, March 18th

"I'm downright paralytic!" Matt's lilt was a groan, placing his head on the cool bar.

"What is he trying to say?" Elena asked, peering at the back of Matt's head.

"That he's drunk." Bonnie said, her own voice slurred. Still she whopped him on the back encouragingly, "Its good luck to puke on 's day, Matt! It means...it means..."

She trailed off, apparently having nothing and shrugged good naturedly, beaming up at the vampires. "It means something!"

Matt groaned and Sully gave a large sigh, "You're the worst Irishman I've ever seen."

Matt's face came up off the bar, "That is grave insult, man, one I won't stand for. A round of shots!"

This time it was Stefan who groaned as Bonnie cheered, clapping her hands in excitement. Meredith leaned discreetly over the bar, "Just water for the girls, but put it in shot glasses."

The bartender shot a questioning glance at Bonnie and Meredith's hand waved and weaved, "She won't know the difference at this point."

2 am, March 18th

"But I don't want to leave!" Bonnie whined, refusing to get off her bar stool.

"Me either!" Matt chimed in, holding onto the bar like it was his lifesaver, fingers clutching under the lip.

"Stefan, help me." Elena asked, tugging on Bonnie, who had copied Matt's clutching motion.

Stefan shook his head resolutely, "No, I like it here!"

She shot him an askance glance, but he had been a busy little vampire in the last hour. He'd been switching Matt's shots with the girls, drinking both his and Matt's. He'd even drank a good many sips of something questionable in a back room of the bar with Damon and Sully. Now he was happy, having a great time with zero responsibility on his shoulders. He nudged Bonnie, "Let's sing some more!"

"Yes, let's!" Damon encouraged, completely plastered from his position leaning against the bar. Even hammered and slightly dishevled he exuded complete sex appeal and managed to drop a wink a Bonnie. She giggled, covering her mouth with a hand. A small thing, but it was enough for Meredith to whip her off the stool and to her feet.

"Traitor!" Matt roared, pointing an outraged finger at Meredith. This too was enough to disengage him from the bar with Damon's well timed kick to Matt's bar stool. Elena was already hauling him to his feet. Now all eyes turned to Stefan, who was clever and harder to trick.

"Stefan! Don't do it! Don't dooooo it!" Bonnie encouraged madly, screaming as Meredith drug her from the bar. Her wild red curls popped in for a moment longer, "Keep the spirit alive!"

Then olive arms pulled her from his sight. There was a thunk as someone took the stool next to him and Stefan looked over at his brother in surprise, Damon shrugged, grabbing the bar with one hand and liquor from behind the bar with the other. "Even Italians are Irish on St. Patrick's day."

3 am, March 18th

"How are we supposed to get home?" Elena asked in annoyance.

Bonnie shrugged, smiling contently. She twirled in a circle, "Don't care. I have everything I need with the trees and the wind."

"You're not a druid." Elena snapped, shivering in the cold front coming in. Thankfully, Bonnie didn't take notice, twirling deeper into the forest. Elena looked around, seeing Damon she tried again, "How are we getting home? Where is the cab?"

"Don't care princess, I can fly myself home." Damon responded, nonchalantly looking around.

Elena let out a sigh in frustration, looking around for Stefan and realizing she didn't see Matt. "Where is Matt?"

Bonnie twirled back by her, "Picking four leaf clovers!" She paused, her lips puckering, "He's talking funny."

Meredith and Elena shared a glance of commiseration, the glare of headlights approaching boosting their moods tremendously. Meredith started waving as soon as she saw the taxi sign on top. They were saved.

10 am, March 18th

"I feel terrible." Bonnie groaned, placing her head firmly back on her arms which were resting on the kitchen table.

Stefan groaned in agreement, shielding his eyes from the too bright light of day.

"You should, you were gone last night." Meredith reprimanded, though she kindly placed the advil next to Bonnie and ruffled the curls before going back to cooking.

"Top of the morning!" Matt declared, entering the kitchen from the back door without any signs of distress, but still with a very accurate Irish accent.

Bonnie and Stefan's heads popped up in amazement, in jealousy and in horror. Was he magically immune? How was Matt, the farthest gone of all, fine? He sat down at the table, looking alertly around, "Are we having tea and toast? Or eggs? I really fancy some sausage."

Elena shared a look with Meredith that was almost angry, that was downright bitter. They had been in charge of corralling the three in front of them and the two as of yet seen this morning vampires. As Matt fiddled with the placemat two things became obvious: one that he was still drunk and two that he had no idea he had an irish accent. He beamed up them again again, "My hammock was perfect last night! How did everyone else rest?"

Bonnie pressed the last point, her voice a whine, "Matt, 's day is over! Stop the accent, it grates on my head..."

"What accent?" Matt asked cheerfully, looking at her intently.

She raised her head, glaring at him. "You're fake Irish accent."

"Fake?" He asked, completely appalled, "How dare you, Miss McCullough? Just because you're jealous I was born and raised in Dublin is no reason to throw about lies! Damn scots!"

There was two beats of silence before Stefan lifted his own head from the table, exasperated eyes turned heavenward. He looked at Matt a long time, anger then annoyance crossing his lovely features. He took a deep breath and let out an unsurprised, yet still furious call, "DAMON!"

There was a thump from somewhere upstairs, the sound of a body falling off a bed and onto the floor, followed by a groan. St. Patrick had won again.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Same universe: I love college series, hints of the "Summer of Bonnie, Matt and Damon" and please be careful as you celebrate the holiday! Happy 'St. Patrick's!

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Own nothing.

11:45 pm, March 16th

The call Damon had been expecting came as usual, just not in the usual fashion. Rather than an annoying vibration on his cell phone, he was awoken by a pounding on the bedroom door and Matt's half-awake self as he pushed it open. "Call for you."

"My phone didn't ring." Damon shot back, leaning against his bedframe, not quite ready to get out of the bed.

Matt ran a hand over his sleepy face, waving his other hand vaguely, offering no clarification. "Bonnie."

Oh, well that was a completely different story. Redbird was a special case, he always answered her calls. Damon held out his hand for Matt's phone and when Matt shook his head and headed into the hallway Damon followed, his interest piqued. Bonnie was standing there in her oversized t-shirt, waiting with a blank expression in her brown eyes. Matt gave another vague wave and leaned against the wall.

"Salvatore!" The voice that came out of her mouth was friendly, deeper and slightly accented.

Damon ran through his acquaintances, trying to figure out who would be using his psychic to have a chat. He came up blank, settling for an annoyed drawl. "Yesss…"

The voice coming out Bonnie ignored his tone, excitement building. "St. Patty's day is tomorrow, fancy New York?"

It clicked. Michael Sullivan, Sully, the man Damon had spent the last few centuries with one day a year. "Sully…couldn't you have just called?"

Matt made a disgusted, angry disgruntled noise. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Didn't have your number, broke my phone." The voice said cheerily, before going on. "My end can't hold the channel much longer, yes or no for New York?"

"No." Damon spat, moving towards Bonnie, anger rising in him at the fact Sully had used her this way.

Bonnie gurgled, affected by whatever was breaking on his end, then the voice sharpened into annoyance. "Fine. See you soon."

Bonnie blinked, brown eyes focusing and refocusing then becoming muddled. "I feel fuzzy."

Damon caught her as she pitched forward, carrying her soundly into his room and slamming the door in Matt's concerned face.

7:30 pm, March 17th

The doorbell was ringing incessantly, chiming and chiming louder with each push. It was Elena who finally pulled it open, wearing sweatpants and a tank top. "What?"

A tall redheaded man stood on the doorstep, holding out a bottle of wine and a pineapple, for hospitality. "Is Damon home?"

Elena glanced at Stefan, they were not doing this again, and upon seeing his horror started to try and shut the door. "You can't come in."

The ginger forced it open easily, squashing her efforts as he walked in airily waving a hand. He acknowledged Stefan, "Little Salvatore." He cocked his head, sensing, before bellowing: "Salvatore?"

Stefan made a face, but didn't groan this time at the sight of the redhead despite the dread and horror rising in his stomach. Adventures with Sully never ended well for Stefan. Bonnie came around the corner at the noise, and froze for a second before her eyes narrowed and her hands balled into fists. "You!"

Sully came forward, reaching out to hug her. "Sister celt!"

"You used my brain!" Bonnie countered, dodging out of the hug, green ribbons in her hair bouncing.

He shrugged, non-apologetic, "Technically, a witch did it and thanks for the invite. Where are we going tonight?"

"We're staying in." Stefan said as firmly as he could, pulling Elena a little closer. Neither of them wanted a repeat of last year's shenanigans. Specifically, Elena didn't want to deal with Stefan hung over, a wild Bonnie and an out of control Matt.

"Still hung over from Paris?" The carrot-topped vampire then laughed.

"No." Stefan's voice was sharper this time as a dark figure appeared at the top of the stairs, "It's midterms."

"Bollucks to that." Sully glanced up at Damon then to the small redhead, "You? I owe you a drink for your services…"

Bonnie glanced at Elena, almost asking permission as Meredith and Matt came in from the kitchen looking curious. It was only once a year, right? Bonnie's voice was forcibly nonchalant, ignoring the look in the blue eyes. "I could use a study break…"

Matt looked back and forth between the two vampires, then stepped in. He wasn't leaving Bonnie to handle that on her own, "If' Bonnie's going so am I."

"There's no need for that.." Damon began, but Elena cut him off, "If Matt's going, I am too. Somebody has to keep y'all out of trouble." She paused and her hair flicked over her shoulder, "besides….Bonnie's right. We've been studying our butts off!"

Stefan and Meredith exchanged a suffering glance and Meredith sighed. Damon beamed at the group, "So, it's decided then."

9:00 pm, March 17th :O'Larkey's

"Stop it, Bonnie." Meredith attempted, not really trying to stop the redhead from dying her beer green. Bonnie had come with her very own bottle of food coloring in case the bars weren't prepared.

Bonnie stuck out her tongue, dyed the beers anyway and started to turn to the next table when a hand grabbed her arm. She turned, finding it was only Elena, "Save it for us!"

Bonnie grinned back in easy agreement, popping the little green bottle back into her purse. She looked eagerly around and not seeing what she wanted asked the blonde, "When do we get to dance?"

A dark chuckle sounded to her left: Damon, holding a bottle of something expensive. "Not until later, little bird."

Then he was gone, back to a table where he and the tall ginger vampire were trying to get themselves obliterated as quickly as possible. Another blond piped up, Matt stepping into their circle, "We can dance now, Bonnie. I've got moves!"

Bonnie was taking a sip of her drink and looked at Matt, Matt Honeycutt telling her he had moves, then to the suddenly silent vampire table and choked, swallowing the rest of what was in her glass or spilling it on herself. Elena was also choking in mirth and Meredith was trying her best not to crack a smile. They'd all seen Matt shuffle his way around high school dances and frat parties.

Stefan saved them from across the bar, his voice thrown out to rescue the friend in need, even though he didn't want to start what was about to happen. "Matt! It's time for another round of shots. Come help carry!"

10:17 pm, March 17th, Baker Street Pub

Bonnie pushed another quarter into the jukebox in an attempt to distract her from something she couldn't take her eyes off. She'd known it was coming, had _seen_ it several hours ago while putting on her mascara. Most of the group was at the pool tables and she'd volunteered to change the music to keep her eyes from noticing the dark haired figure on the patio, the dark haired figure currently hunting a honey wheat blonde with blue eyes.

Another quarter, this time with more force. Damon wasn't hers and had made it clear he didn't want to be, but also made it clear he wasn't going to tolerate seeing her with anyone else. She stole a glance through the patio door, unable to help herself, and wished she hadn't. He'd gone from hunting to sealing the deal, it looked like they were kissing in the darker corner, one of his hands wrapped around her neck. She couldn't seem to look away, he looked tender with this stranger.

"Damon's found a snack. I'll fancy one myself soon." The suggestive lilting voice came from her right and Bonnie tried, and failed, not to give a startled squeak.

She pressed a button to flip the catalog, wondering if the bar would even turn off the Irish drinking songs she normally loved long enough for the jukebox to play. She tried to keep it light, "Gotta eat if you're gonna drink."

"What he is bothers you, doesn't it?" The other redhead's finger waved, before pressing into switching the catalog again.

"No." Bonnie answered immediately and truthfully, taking a sip of her green drink. He opened his mouth to bring up tamed vampires, but she'd already seen this part of the night. She elaborated with a hand wave, "Not even that he's not like Stefan. Damon wouldn't be Damon like that."

"So what?" Sully prompted, his eyes flicking to the pool tables where a blond and a brunette were clinking sticks. Matt and Meredith were both surprisingly good at pool and always paired up as a team for the game.

Bonnie took another long sip, abandoning her search for a song and leaning against the jukebox, her eyes landing on Elena. She lifted a lock of her own hair and examined the red curl, "He's a blonde-e-terian."

"Aren't you?" He asked pointedly, waving towards the blond boy who kept stealing glances their way to see if Bonnie had seen his good shots.

Matt saw the gesture and waved his stick in the air, "Bonnie, come play!"

"Get more drinks!" Elena yelled, waving her stick too, dangerously close to Stefan.

Bonnie started to shake her head, but could see that Damon had looked up, their eyes met, then his lips dropped to his prey's. She couldn't do this. She threw her voice back, "Sure."

She turned back to Sully, "They all are blonde-e-terian. Meredith, Stefan, Damon, Matt. Probably you too."

He nudged her, gesturing up at his own wild ginger hair. "Today is the one day of the year, that being a ginger makes you the star of the party. Blondes don't have their own damn holiday."

Bonnie laughed in response, the weight lifted. "C'mon let's get shots and you can see how bad I am at pool."

11:05 March 17th, Baker's Street Pub

"Push your elbow more in, Bonnie, it'll help keep you steady." Matt told her, unsteadily, as he bent over her at the pool table, pushing her elbow in for her. He stepped closer, his chest against her back as he guided her other hand and the cue back, one hand moving to adjust her hip.

Wham. The pool cue flew out of her hand and into a neighboring table, smashing into very dangerous bits for several of their party. Matt straightened, his voice rising, "What the hell?"

"We're done here." Damon responded icily, "Let's go."

"I'm learning pool!" Bonnie ranted, angrily tossing the blue cube nowhere in particular. She'd wanted to throw it at Damon's face, but one look in the dark eyes told her it wasn't a good idea.

Stefan and Sully appeared, Stefan shiftily straightening his shirt. Sully grinned at them, smiling slowly. "Damon, challenging people to duels already?"

"Where have you been?" Elena asked, eyeing the new stain on Stefan's shirt.

"I want to duel." Bonnie yelled it over Elena, stomping her foot.

Meredith stepped in, glancing at Damon as she did so, before furiously whispering in Bonnie's ear. Bonnie grinned and whispered something in return, the high of concocting a plan flaring in the brown eyes. Damon was shaking his head in exasperation, still annoyed, "I'm not going to fight you, redbird."

The furious whispering went on for another moment and Matt who was close enough to hear began to laugh. Meredith straightened and in a formal voice that did little to hide her wry smile, spoke for Bonnie. "Bonnie choses karaoke as weapons, Damon."

"No." Damon responded as Stefan began to laugh uncontrollably, leaning against the third vampire. They'd been raised in age of honor and even Damon's darkest days hadn't depraved him of that: he would respond to the challenge, he was bound to.

"Absolutely not! I would never…" The black voice ranted, his anger returning in full force.

"-You started it!" Bonnie cut him off savagely using Meredith's strength beside her for courage.

12:15 March 18th, the questionable bar with karaoke

"Meredith, look!" Matt said excitedly, grabbing her arm and pointing, "A real leprechaun!"

Meredith's eyes followed his finger to where Bonnie was squatting under a table across the bar, looking for something on the ground. Meredith looked right back at Matt and frowned, "That's Bonnie…how are you this drunk already?"

Matt shrugged, ignoring her and heading that way to prove himself right. "Pretty sure it's a leprechaun. Mom and I could use the gold…"

Stefan answered the other question, looking around for Elena before he did. "Sully has a magic flask." At her look, Stefan clarified. "In a literal sense, it never goes empty." Another look and Stefan came clean, "We had to verify what he was saying…Damon and Matt both tried very hard to disprove the theory."

"Didn't you learn anything last time?" Meredith parried, exasperated, midterms were in a few days and none of them could afford to lose a day of studying.

Stefan had in fact learned something, that Elena loved him enough to forgive him for anything. So merrily, he grabbed Meredith's hand and began dragging her towards the bar, "You'll need one to hear Damon sing!"

Meredith let herself be dragged, wondering briefly why she was always the one with the weight of responsibility on her shoulders. A familiar voice cleared her throat over the microphone, Bonnie's sweet voice calling for attention. "I need Damon Salvatore on stage! We've got to duet!"

Stefan gave a half grin, somewhere around the last shot Bonnie had forgotten her former fury, twisting duel into duet. It wasn't a night for fights, this of all nights was for far more interesting things.

Abruptly the power in the bar flicked out, then back on, followed by a sizzling sound of the karaoke machine frying. Bonnie looked at it in horror, red splotches of embarrassment and rage blooming in her cheeks. She marched from the stage, her eyes searching the crowd and landing on Meredith and Stefan. "Where is he?!"

Stefan shrugged, looking around himself. Meredith did not smile, even though she wanted to, she hated karaoke and Bonnie was enthusiastic, but tone deaf. For once she and Damon were in agreement. Instead she tried to soothe her smaller friend, "Now, Bonnie…"

Bonnie made a disgusted noise in response and marched off, grabbing Stefan's drink as she went. She bypassed Matt and Elena, who we're talking to some classmates, and headed straight for the patio. She flung the door open and not seeing Damon among the smokers and patio goers made another cry of disgust. An admonishing voice called to her, "Now we redheads have to watch our temper."

Bonnie turned her anger on him, Damon had destroyed the karaoke machine, had ruined all of her fun. "He's gone too far this time!"

A laugh, "Let's not lie. He's gone a lot farther than that, pet."

Bonnie couldn't deny that, so she let herself draw up to him on the edge of the rail, finding her edges were swimmingly happily. Swimming too happily, something was trying to swat into her mind and she batted it away, no visions now. It came anyway, not warning words or a glance of the future, but a glance of the past. Sully's angry voice directed at Damon in formal clothes long out of style, "You killed my drinking partner!"

"So?" What should have been a lazy Italian drawl answered, except it wasn't.

It faded and she blinked, coming back to the present night. She looked at the tall ginger next to her, who was staring at her in intense interest. Bonnie shook the vision off, trying to push it away and failing, "So how old are you?"

His eyes never left hers and he offered no answers, to clarify what she'd seen. "Does it matter? I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler and long way from home."

Sensation pricked along Bonnie's spine, she knew this song and knew the next words weren't merely lyrics tonight, he waved his hand prompting her and she found she _wanted to _sing the words. "And if you don't like me, then leave me alone."

His hand was gentle as he twisted her head to the side, his earlier words of wanting a snack drifting back to her across the fog filling her mind. He pulled her into his arms, picking up the tune again, the last sung sweetly against her neck. "I'll eat when I'm hungry and I'll drink when I'm dry…"

The patio door swung open again, Matt's cheery voice calling out. "Bonnie, Elena got free shots!" The cheer dropped, the slur thickening as he took in their position, "What are you doing to her?"

It broke the fog, not a full compulsion and Bonnie stepped back harshly, steadying herself in horror. Sully had been going to eat her. Sully's gaze snapped from her to Matt, annoyance flashing in the lilting tones as his eyes caught the blue ones, running searching fingers across Matt's aura. His pupils dilated and contracted, "Go inside and leave us alone. Tell no one."

He paused and a slow smile spread across his face, remembering last year. "And for God's sake, remember you're a Dubliner."

Matt nodded and Sully snapped his eyes away, Matt's next words coming out accented, "Ballsbridge will always be home. Fancy a pint?"

"No." Sully snapped and Matt ambled back inside, Bonnie took a deep, shaky breath.

Another shaky breath, sobering slightly though her next words tumbled out. "You could have just asked. It's not all that bad, you know."

"Salvatore?" Sully asked moodily, though she could feel his psychic touch against her senses. He wasn't going to do it now.

"Stefan." Bonnie corrected, feeling her stomach flip inside, Damon had surprisingly not crossed that boundary and Bonnie had mixed feelings about it. They'd kissed, he'd died for her, but even in times of urgency took any of the others blood.

Sully took this in, straightening, reading far more into Damon's actions than Bonnie did. He leaned unsteadily against the opposite pole, "I never shared blood with my wives until after we were married. Never got on board with these modern morals." A pause, "I should have just bitten that fool instead. My apologies, I've got a dreadful fondness for psychic blood. It's quite the experience."

The door flew open again, this time with black fury, a rage so very nearly not contained. Damon staggered onto the patio, growling at the humans, "Out."

They scattered immediately as lightening cracked above, back over the bar and into the patio rail. He turned on them, drunk and furious, his velvet tones accusing, "What are you doing?"

Bonnie shifted uncomfortably, even though the gaze wasn't focused fully on her. Damon's hammered friend stood to his full height, his own power swelling around him. "Don't start with me, boy."

Damon stepped forward and Sully did too, taking a long glance between the two of them. He paused, "Call it even, Damon. Remember you tried the same with Cecily."

Damon paused too and Bonnie tried to slip by him, finding instead that he reached out and caught her. Black fury tinged with worry sparking in his eyes as he looked down at her, "And you. I'm not letting you out of my sight for the rest of the night."

12:50 March 18th, still the questionable bar with karaoke

Meredith was waiting for them at the bar, annoyance on her face as Matt chattered happily at her about his favorite Irish football team. She raised an eyebrow, taking in the three of them in various states of annoyance. Matt's voice was loud as he leaned over the bar, before grinning at Bonnie. "Oi, can we get a rounda car bombs for these bonnie lasses?"

Damon scowled and Meredith gestured at Matt's voice, her own exasperated. "Care to explain how that happened? He's got vervain on him."

"I do?" Matt queried in confusion.

Meredith was still waiting for an answer as she looked back and forth between Sully and Damon, "We all do tonight," she met Sully's gaze unapologetically , "No offense, I don't take chances."

He winked in response, before leaning over the bar, to add to the order, before turning back to Meredith. "None take, huntress. Here's a fact for your slayer lore. Vervain is only effective against vampires born after it was created." He grinned again at her shock, all of theirs, and the implications there. "The rest of us, you're rough out of luck."

Elena and Stefan had reappeared during the bombshell and there was a long moment of silence, Elena's breath shaking loudly and Stefan's eyes going dumb. She asked the question the others were all thinking, "Are you…are you like Klaus?"

He took rapid offense to this, "I'm just old, girl, not senile. He was wild enough before he became unhinged."

"We know." Bonnie said numbly taking the shot Matt passed her. Another night, another holiday where the lines between the worlds were also at their thinnest. "He, he-was throwing lightening and-" she couldn't go on and shuddered.

He turned rapidly to look across all of their shell-shocked faces to where Stefan was carefully pushing Meredith and Elena onto stools and to Damon, "They pissed off Klaus and came out alive? Wait… your from his line, did you fuck with Klaus?"

Damon opened his mouth to answer and instead opted for lifting his shot glass, "To health and long life!"

"Or multiple lives." Elena echoed dumbly making eye contact with Damon, before downing her own shot.

Damon signaled for another round. "It's a long story, but yes." He smile flashed on and off in pleasure, " Klaus is locked in a different dimension, by the way." His eyes flicked to Bonnie, "When Bonnie calls for help someone always answers. Usually me, but not always." Another eye contact with Elena.

More shots were passed and downed without a cheer. Sully still looking at all of them in wonder, with his eyes lingering on the redhead before turning back to Damon. "We really should spend more time catching up and less time drinking."

Then he gave a roaring laugh, "Just kidding."

1:10 AM, March 18th: the bar with the green sign

Meredith was still stuck on the point of vervain, quite drunk herself after having to remember everything Klaus had done to her family. "So it just doesn't work? Like, you're so old, you're older than plants."

"Plants," Bonnie giggled, "Like Sage. Remember how hot he was, Meredith?"

"Well, feck me." Sully exclaimed, "You've met him too? Damn, Salvatores are not keeping a low profile with their humans."

Damon rolled his eyes, "They don't keep a low profile."

Meredith was still stuck on her point though, "Would it work on Sage?"

Sully paused, looking her over then looked at Bonnie. "Damon, go grab Little Salvatore and my blond pet, I want to play that old drinking game." Damon's eyes shifted to Bonnie, Sully rolled his, "Yes, yes, no biting, no courting. I get it."

As soon as Damon was sufficiently far enough not hear over the music and bar noise, Sully leaned across the table. "Look lasses, let's make a deal. I'll answer all of your questions, huntress, but I haven't seen Sage in an age. So if you, sister celt, will help me invite him we're all happy."

Meredith and Bonnie shared a bleary look, before Bonnie turned back to him in agreement. Meredith needed this information, whether any of them would remember it the next day or not was questionable. "So how does this work?"

He pulled out his magic flask and handed it Bonnie, "Take a long swallow and I'll use your natural abilities to amplify the call across dimensions."

"Bonnie…" Meredith started in hesitation, but it was already going up to her mouth.

"It won't hurt her or even make her drunker than she is like it would you. Damn witches protect their own."

Bonnie sputtered and passed it back, "Ok."

He glanced across the room, seeing the rest of the group getting closer with another round. "No time to be gentle, eye contact and open up your mind for me."

She did and felt his call: a mix of "Sage, old buddy, fancy a pint with" images of all of their faces. It rocketed through her and out of her mind in all directions and multiple dimensions in the psychic equivalent of the wave that follows from a nuclear explosion.

The bar paused and everyone looked around, even complete psychic duds like Matt seemed to think they'd heard something. Bonnie broke eye contact, "Whoa."

Damon was suddenly in front of them, Stefan very closely behind after knocking through a chair. "What the hell are you doing? She is _mine._"

Sully's hands flew up in self-defense, "You just said no biting, no courting. She offered and look she's fine." He pushed the flask back at her, "Have another drink love, it'll keep your strength."

Bonnie swallowed before having the flask grabbed by Matt, "Hey, the magic flask is back out! That's just class."

Bonnie smiled at Damon, a little guiltily. "See, see I'm fine! Dance time?"

His unfocused gaze said she was never leaving the house again, but Matt was helping her up, chugging with one hand. "Sure, Bonnie, let's have a jig."

Damon opened his mouth, but was beat to it by Elena and her weaving hand.

"Save it, Damon and find a therapist. " She paused, her drunk mind thinking, "Or get a fish, that won't stress you out by having its own life." She smiled, continuing with her logic. "You'll be the light of your fish's day! You'll give it food, it won't push back." Elena looked to Stefan and Meredith for confirmation, before nodding herself. "Plus, you won't want to eat it! Face it, you'd be a great fish owner!"

Damon didn't know what to say to that, but a deeper voice with a French accent answered for him. "_Mon petit tyrant_, with a pet. It is quite the image, Elena."

He pulled Damon into a hug, his smile widening as Sully joined from the other side in much the way the girls had hugged earlier. Sully pulled away with a laugh, "It's been a long time, dear friend."

Sage acknowledged that, his vest today green and accessorized with a sparkly shamrock bowtie. He smiled, "And how exactly did you send _that_ invitation out."

Sully pointed to Bonnie, who was grinning at Sage while still holding Matt's hand absently as if about to go to the dance floor. He pulled her into a hug, his eyes looking very, very thoughtful.

Bonnie sidled towards the dance floor with Matt. Damon thoroughly distracted by the arrival of his friend, she would chat with Sage later. She caught the answer to Meredith's question, Sage's answer and the laughter of Sully drifting back to them. "I was just in New York."

Bonnie turned to Irish Matt, "Let's see your moves!"

Turns out, Irish Matt wasn't self-conscious and had moves.

1:35 am, March 18th: bar with the questionably green sign

Bonnie and Matt came back to the table, Bonnie looking frustrated with Matt hovering protectively, arm around her waist. "Too crowded to dance now." A confused expression, "People keep thanking me for the invite."

"Ah." Sully said, sharing a glance with Sage while Damon turned away. "Well, our method was loose and dirty, as they say."

She shrugged and eyed the various people at the table and lack of chairs critically, walking slowly around them saying "Duck. Duck. Duck." Pat on Damon's head, "Duck."

"Goose!" She proclaimed and settled herself onto Sage's lap like a little kitten and reaching for his drink. She took a sip and sputtered.

"That is not how the game is played!" Elena protested from where she had been sitting at the edge of her seat in anticipation.

Bonnie shrugged and turned to Sully, starting to chant: "Magic Flask. Magic Flask."

Matt joined in and Sully shook his head with a glance at Damon, but it was Sage who spoke. "No, _mon chaton._ You've already had about 30 _interesting _friends show up. "

"The more the merrier." Matt piped up, before changing his tune looking worriedly at Stefan, "Though, this bar be tacked now, no way to get anotha round before last call."

Damon shrugged, grabbing the bottle from the middle of the table and pouring himself something he drank immediately. His smile flashed on and off. "That has never stopped me."

"That is….." Meredith paused with her finger near Damon's face, deciding on a word, "unethical."

Damon's eyebrow went up and down in response, he'd been watching Meredith stealing glances at Sage and glances back to Elena.

Bonnie shook her head, curls flying into Sage's face. "No! This place blows! Let's just go somewhere we can keep partying!"

Sage looked thoughtful, Stefan agreeable, while Damon and Sully shared a glance. Meredith protested, "Where? Everything closes at 2!"

Bonnie turned around in her seat fully, planting a weaving kiss on Sage's cheek, before turning back to the group. "Oh, not here…..a party Sage knows about."

There was a pause, "Do you two text or something?" Matt queried, looking alarmed.

Bonnie shook her head. "We shoulllld. Magic's easy today, walls are thin between dimensions."

Another pause while she snatched the magic flask out of Sully's reach too quick for him to reach and took a swig. She tried to toss it to Matt, but Stefan reached out and caught it. Taking his own swig, he threw it to Sage. Sage caught it with a questioning glance, "Why is this a magic flask?"

"Well….."

2:17 am: March 18th: Parking lot bordering a field

Sage had also tried very hard to disprove the theory that the flask never went empty while they left the bar and migrated, the argument of whether or not to go raging around him. On the go side were the vampires + Bonnie, on the stay side Meredith and Elena while Matt depended on whether or not there was a stop to drop him in Dublin.

Finally, Sage pulled the flask down, echoing Bonnie from earlier. "Whoa. I've got to get one of these."

His eyes already looked glassier, whatever was in the flask seemed to have the strongest effect on vampires. Stefan nodded his agreement and opened his mouth to be swatted by Elena. Bonnie took the opportunity, thrusting herself in front of Sage. "Let's go!"

He glanced at the blush rising in Elena's cheeks, "_Mon chaton…._"

She waved him off, "I've already _seen_ us going." She closed her eyes for a moment, letting everything rush by. "Matt finds the Irish clique to dance with, you see an old flame and…" she trailed off blushing with a glance at Damon who simply just stared back and kept staring.

There was silence, Matt's concerned brogue coming next. "Don't be getting all strange now. You be walking into fairy circles next, girl, if you're not careful."

Sage was still looking at her out of very glassy eyes, though there was an unsettling look in his eyes, almost pained as he said easily enough. "I don't take passengers."

Damon rolled his eyes, "You've given me rides tons of times."

"In a car." Sage responded before sighing at the pleading look on Bonnie's face, "Fine, only today because the walls are thin enough."

He started to pace in a circle while the sisterhood renewed its fight. Elena was adamant, hand waving. "Bonnie McCullough. No. You promised to be goooood!"

Bonnie's response was in earnest as she took a sip off of something she'd snuck out, "I _am_ being good. Good is fun."

It was Meredith who simply grabbed Bonnie, from behind, wrapping her arms around her from behind in a hug as Sage nodded at them, her voice slurred, "Not letting you go. One for all, all for one."

"Noooo." Bonnie wailed in desperation.

It was Sully who just as easily freed her, tossing her to where Damon and Sage were standing ready. Damon caught her and Sully leaped backwards faster than even a hunter could grasp towards where they were waiting. Stefan took one step forward in torn, drunken, angst and was saved from the decision, "You've got to get the lasses home safe."

The edges around the 3 vampires and one psychic started to quaver and something in Matt's mind woke, his protective football instinct, and he rushed into the circle that was getting smaller like it was an end zone.

"Bollocks." Was the last thing Elena, Meredith and Stefan heard with the wrong sounding voice.

circa 10 am, March 18th: Unknown

"Where the hell are we?" Damon demanded as he sat up in confusion, rubbing his face as the semi darkness and pain invading his brain.

A small redhead answered from the ground nearby, not quite up to the sitting state yet, restrained by the arm a sleeping blond had thrown across her, though her eyes glanced from side to side. Her voice was groggy and confused as she shifted in her green dress, "No clue. Though,"...the pause dragged out as she tried to look around…. "_Where is everyone else_?"

The dark vampire scanned the landscape again, sharpening his senses and landing on a familiar bronzed figure nearby, who looked slightly off kilter himself. His voice was dark, "Oh, hell."

The listeners couldn't tell if it was an answer or an exclamation, but the exhale was definitive. "Not again."


End file.
